STATE TRIALS, &c. &c. 670. Trial of WILLIAM COBBETT for Libels on the Right Hon. PHILIP Earl of HARDWICKE, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; the Right Hon. JOHN Lord REDESDALE, Lord High Chancellor of Ireland; the Hon. FRANCIS OSBORNE, one of the Justices of the Court of King's-Bench of Ireland; and ALEXANDER MARSDEN, Esq., one of the under Secretaries in the Office of the Chief Secretary of the said LordLieutenant of Ireland; tried by a special Jury before the Right Hon. Edward Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of his Majesty's Court of King's-Bench, at Westminster, on Thursday May 24: 44 GEORGE III. A. D, 1804.* Counsel for the Crown. Mr. Attorney-General [The Honourable Mr. Solicitor-General [Sir Thomas Manners Mr. Dallas [afterwards Lord Chief Justice Counsel for the Defendant. See the next case and the proceedings against the Honourable Robert Johnson A. D. 1805, infrà. VOL. XXIX. THE INFORMATION. Pleas before our lord the king at Westminster, of Easter Term in the forty-fourth year of the reign of our sovereign lord George the 3rd, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Amongst the pleas of the king. Roll. Middlesex. Amongst the in- BE it remembered that the honourable Spencer Perceval Attorney-general of No. our present sovereign lord the king who for our said lord the king in this behalf prosecuteth in his proper person came here into the Court of our said lord the king before the king himself at Westminster on Monday next after the Octave of Saint Hilary last past and for our said lord the king brought into the Court of our said lord the king before the king himself then and there a certain information against William Cobbett late of Westminster in the county of Middlesex gentleman which said information followeth in these words (that is to say) Middlesex (to wit) Be it remembered that the B honourable Spencer Perceval Attorney-gene- | bered that the equus against which that sagaral of our present sovereign lord the king who for our said lord the king in this behalf prosecuteth in his proper person cometh here into the court of our said lord the king before the king himself at Westminster on Monday next after the Octave of Saint Hilary in this same term, and for our said lord the king giveth the Court here to understand and be informed cious adviser cautioned his countrymen was a wooden one His countrymen did not regard Laocoon They received the wooden representative of wisdom They approached it as if it possessed authority and power Its wooden head towered above their houses But though the machine itself was innoxious wood the credulous Trojans found its hollow head and exalted sides were nothing less than recep1st Count-That William Cobbett late of tacles for greedy peculators and bood-thirsty Westminster in the county of Middlesex assassins The ingenious author of the story gentleman being a malicious and ill dis- did not mean to confine the lesson which it posed person and unlawfully and malicious inculcates to the tale of Troy alone He meant ly devising and intending to move and incite to take advantage of that easy metaphorical the liege subjects of our said lord the expression which by the common assent of king to batred and dislike of our said lord the mankind has moulded itself into most lanking's administration of the government of gnages and by which a certain species of this kingdom and to insinuate and cause it to head (which the moderns by various moral be believed that the people of that part of the experiments have ascertained to be a non-conUnited Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ire- ductor of ideas) has been denominated a land called Ireland were. oppressed ag- wooden head He meant to caution future nagrieved and injured by our said lord the tions not to put trust or confidence in the apking's government of the said part of the said parent innocence of any such wooden instruUnited Kingdom and to traduce defame ment and not to suffer themselves to be led to and vilify the persons employed by our said exalt it into consequence or to pay it any relord the king in the administration of the spect He meant to tell that any people who government of the said part of the said United submitted to be governed by a wooden head Kingdom, and especially the right ho would not find their security in its supposed nourable Philip Earl of Hardwicke our said innoxiousness as its hollowness would soon lord the king's lieutenant general and gover- be occupied by instruments of mischief When nor general of the said part of the said United I found sir this portion of the kingdom Kingdom and the right honourable John Lord (meaning the said part of the said United Redesdale our said lord the king's lord chan- Kingdom) "overwhelmed by such consecellor and keeper of the great seal and one of quences to our property as the rapacity of his most honourable privy council of and for Mr. Marsden " (meaning the said Alexander the said part of the said United Kingdom on Marsden)" and his friends and such consethe fifth day of November in the forty-fourth quences to our lives as the pikes of Mr. Emyear of the reign of our sovereign lord George mett and his friends have lately produced the 3rd by the grace of God of the United when I could trace all these evils as the inevitKingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland King able issue from the head and body of such a Defender of the Faith at Westminster in the government as that of lord Hardwicke " county of Middlesex unlawfully and malicious (meaning the said Philip Earl of Hardly did print and publish and cause and pro-wicke) and I am told of his innoxiousness cure to be printed and published a certain scandalous and malicious libel in the form of a letter entitled Affairs of Ireland containing therein divers scandalous and malicious matters and things of and concerning the said part of the said United Kingdom and the people thereof and our said lord the king's government thereof and also of and concerning the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke so being such lieutenant and governor as aforesaid and the said John Lord Redesdale so being such chancellor and privy counsellor as aforesaid and also of and concerning Alexander Marsden esquire then and there being one of the under secretaries in the office of the chief secretary of the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke so being such lieutenant and governor as aforesaid (that is to say) in one part thereof according to the tenor and effect following (that is to say) "Sir- Equo ne credite Teucri' was the advice which in a dangerous moment Laocoon gave to the Trojans It will be remem and his firmness I still reply the story of the wooden horse and I shall still notwithstanding the fate of Laocoon raise my voice to my countrymen and cry Equo ne credite Teucri Not sir that I would be understood literally I do not mean to assert that the head of my lord Hardwicke" (meaning the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke)" is absolutely built of timber My application like that of the original author of the tale is only metaphorical Yet at the same time I cannot avoid suspecting that if the head of his excellency" (meaning the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke)" were submitted to the analysis of any such investigator of nature as Lavoisier it would be found to contain a superabundant portion of particles of a very ligneous tendency This șir is the lord Hardwicke of doctor Addington against whose government not a murmur of complaint has been heard' while our property has been subject to thes plunder of his clerks and our persons have been exposed to pikes of the rebels Stilk however the innocence of lord Hardwicke mittee issuing from one of their coffee-houses (meaning the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke) say to such an answer from a British mi"as to any intention of mischief is held nister Why sir the walls of St. Stephen's forth But I reply in the words of Mr. Burke and the chambers in Downing-street would they who truly mean well must be fearful of be made to ring with their vociferous re'acting ill Delusive good intention is no ex-proaches And yet sir to this situation is that 'cuse for presumption' And I may add in portion of the united kingdom (meaning the my own words that the government of a said part of the said united kingdom) reharmless man is not therefore a harmless go- duced on the strength and vigour of which vernment" And in another part thereof, ac- at this moment not only his own safety but cording to the tenor and effect following (that as I have in my former letter stated the safety is to say) "Inquiry and research are the duty of the British empire and consequently I and resource of the ignorant and therefore I may assume the safety of Europe does en did inquire The result of no small attention tirely depend Against the truth of the debestowed in this pursuit was, that I discovered scription I have given of its rulers I may chalof our viceroy" (meaning the said Philip Earl lenge the most daring supporter of the present of Hardwicke)" that he was in rank an earl in government to produce me one single act in manners a gentleman in morals a good father the lives of either of those truly great characand a kind husband and that he had a good ters of the Doctor" (meaning the said Philip library in St. James's-square Here I should earl of Hardwicke and John Lord Redesdale) have been for ever stopped if I had not by ac- "which can entitle them to clain one particle cident met with one Mr. Lindsay a Scotch par- of trust or confidence from the public beyond son since become (and I am sure it must be the bounds and limits within which I have by Divine Providence for it would be impos- encircled their exploits On the chancery sible to account for it by secondary causes) pleader" (meaning the said John lord Redesbishop of Killaloo in Ireland-From this Mr. dale)" perhaps I may have laid too great a Lindsay I further learned that my lord Hard- stress he is not of the first consequence wicke (meaning the said Philip Earl of though in a future letter I may perhaps Hardwicke)" was celebrated for under- point out to you the mischiefs which the instanding the modern method of fattening termeddling of such a man in matters out of sheep as well as any man in Cambridge- the course of his practice may occasion But shire" And in another part thereof according with respect to lord Hardwicke" (meaning the to the tenor and effect following (that is to said Philip earl of Hardwicke) "it may be resay) "While I have been writing sir a map plied that my challenge is unfair because it of the West Indies happened to hang before is impossible to justify his having been ap me My eyes wandered I know not why pointed to the government of Ireland by any upon it and fixed upon one of those little instances of former political ability as the ac islands which have been lately by the British ceptance of his present office was his first potroops redeemed from the capitulation of litical essay What! Is he one of the tribe lord Cornwallis at Amiens Give me leave to of the Hobarts Westmorelands and Camdens? suppose that in the course of a few years one Is he one of that tribe who have been sent of those little islands should become highly over to us to be trained up here into politicians cultivated and that a considerable portion of as they train the surgeons apprentices in the British property became vested in its land hospitals by setting them at first to bleed the and in its trade Suppose that by some un- pauper patients? Is this a time for a contifortunate combination of events this little nuation of such wanton experiments? The island should be deeply shaken by insurrec- gift of lord Hardwicke to us" (meaning theretion within and should be loudly menaced by the appointment of the said Philip carl of by invasion from without Suppose a Hardwicke to the said place and office of lieupowerful fleet of the enemies of the British tenant general and governor-general of the name lay to windward ready filled with said part of the said United Kingdom)" at such troops for landing while a desperate band of a period cannot be compared to any thing else ruffians were secretly arming in its bosom than the prank of Falstaff upon prince Ilal at ready to aid that landing of a foreign enemy the battle of Shrewsbury when the knight Suppose in this distress a committee of West handed over his pistol to the prince For inIndía proprietors whose money had been deed sir by the present to us of ford Hardwicke" vested in this little island should apply (meaning the aforesaid appointment of the to the doctor Addington for assistance and said Philip earl of Hardwicke) "that sentence suppose be were to rise up and desire them has been proved to us in a bloody truth which to quit their apprehensions for that he had Falstaff said in a good-humoured jest here's entrusted the care of their island to a very eminent sheepfeeder from Cambridgeshire who was to be assisted in all his counsels by avery able and strong built chancery pleader from Lincoln's-Inn Give me leave to ask you sir who know the city much better than I can pretend to do what would a sugar com what will sack a city" To the great scandal and disgrace of the said Philip earl of Hardwicke and John lord Redesdale In contempt of our said lord the king and his laws to the evil example of all others in the like case of fending and against the peace of our said lord the king his crown and dignity 2nd. Count. And the said attorney-general of our said lord the king for our said lord the king further giveth the Court here to understand and be informed that the said William Cobbett so being such person as aforesaid and again unlawfully and maliciously devising and intending as aforesaid and also further unlawfully and maliciously devising and intending to traduce defame and vilify the honourable Charles Osborne then and there being one of the justices of our said lord the king assigned to hold the pleas in the court of our said lord the king before the king himself in Ireland aforesaid afterwards to wit on the tenth day of December in the forty-fourth year of the reign of our said sovereign lord the king at Westminster in the county of Middlesex unlawfully and maliciously did print and publish and cause and procure to be printed and published a certain other scandalous and malicious libel in the form of a letter intituled Affairs of Ireland in some parts of which said last-mentioned libel were and are contained divers scandalous malicious and seditious matters and things of and concerning the said part of the said United Kingdom and the persons employed by our said lord the king in the administration of the government of the said part of the said United Kingdom and of and concerning the said Charles Osborne so being such justice as aforesaid and the said Alexander Marsden so being such under secretary as aforesaid (that is to say) in one part thereof according to the tenor and effect following (that is to say) "What I have now to touch upon must be done with a delicate hand will confine myself to a bare narrative of facts and will not presume to give any opinion As Country had been effectually checked' If soon as the government had fully recovered its the learned justice did make any such asserrecollection a commission directed to five of tion (which I am far from supposing) with the judges issued for the trial of those rebels what amazement the grand jury must have who had been arrested for treason committed received such a broadside poured upon the in the county and city of Dublin This comtruth of the fact I cannot as I was not present mission having issued while the judges were know but I can very well imagine what on circuit was filled up (and very properly fill- the feelings of twenty-three well-informed ed up) with the names of the five senior of gentlemen must have been Their respect those judges who were then on the circuits and a thorough knowledge of their duty which were likely to terminate at the carliest would necessarily keep them silent"-And period of time Such was the reason given by in another part thereof according to the government for the particular selection of the tenor and effect following (that is to say) Judges named in that commission and it cer" But sir suggestion does not stop here Men tainly was a good reason In some time after ask how could (if the learned justice did make this commission had been sitting it became any such assertion) the learned justice be led necessary to issue a new commission for the to give credit to a position which contradicts trial of rebels in the shires of Antrim and of the evidence of the senses of every man in the Down In the appointment of this second kingdom who was present at or knew any commission the principle which directed the thing of the transaction? How could a learnselection in the first was not adhered to On ed judge be supposed to assert that which no the contrary the junior judge of the twelve" man in the kingdom would assert unless he (meaning the said Charles Osborne)" was very had some reasons of the same nature as those anxiously called out and placed in this new which prevailed on Mr. Marsden's attorneycommission over the heads of a number of general on the trials for high treason to ashis seniors This however could not and sert something of the same kind? Men sir ought not to have given offence to any of couple the extraordinary selection of the those senior judges because whatever opinion learned justice" (meaning the said Charles of thear the government" (meaning the per- Osborne)" from amongst his fellows with the sons employed by our said lord the king in extraordinary assertion attributed to him in a the administration of the government of the said part of the said united kingdom)" may have manifested in such an appointment the opinion of the present government" (meaning the persons employed by our said lord the king in the administration of the government of the said part of the said united kingdom) " upon such a subject (known to be influenced by motives very different from general justice) is too contemptible to have the slightest effect upon any of those learned judges in the public mind The circumstance therefore was not at first attended to There is published in this city a newspaper called the Dublin Journal It is in general conducted with good sense loyalty and regard to truth but in particular deviations it is known to be under the control and immediate direction of government" (meaning the persons em◄ ployed by our said lord the king in the administration of the government of the said part of the said united Kingdom) "In that paper of the 10th of October last a publication appeared which purported to be a charge given by the junior judge above alluded to to the grand jury of the county of Antrim In this place I beg now to declare that I am far from attempting to assert that the learned judge did pronounce any such charge and when I speak of this charge I request you will understand I mean only the newspaper publication abovementioned In the newspaper publicationthe learned judge is made to tell the grand jury that through the welltimed efforts and strenuous exertions of a Iwise and energetic government &c. the pro'gress of such crimes as lately disgraced this government newspaper and they ask if he well conceive what lord Kenyon" (meaning the made that assertion where did he get his in- said late Lloyd lord Kenyon)" in such a situa formation? Was he ever in Mr. Marsden's" tion would have done and also what he would (meaning the said Alexander Marsden's) not have done From a rare modesty of nature audience-room since the night of the 23rd or from a rare precision of self knowledge lord of July? What passed there? What were the Kenyon would have acted with reserve and pre-disposing causes which induced govern- circumspection on his arrival in a country ment to select particularly that learned jus- with the moral qualities of the inhabitants of tice?" (meaning the said Charles Osborne) which and with their persons manners and "Could government have foreseen (and if so individual characters and connexions he must by what faculty) that the learned justice would have been utterly unacquainted In such a have given an instruction to the grand jury country torn with domestic sedition and so very useful and so very grateful to the go- treason threatened with foreign invasion and vernment? What night telescope could have acting since the union under an untried conbeen applied to the eye of Mr. Marsden" stitution if doctor Addington had required (meaning the said Alexander Marsden) that lord Kenyon should direct a Cambridgewhich through the dark womb of things shire earl" (meaning the said Philip. Earl of unborn could have enabled him to perceive Hardwicke)" in all his councils' lord Kenyon through this little future star of praise spring. would as soon at the desire of lord St. Vincent ing from the creative lips of the learned jus- have undertaken to pilot a line of battle tice? Here sir decorum towards you and to-ship through the Needles Particularly the wards the public induces me to be silent as to integrity of lord Kenyon would have shrunk other and perhaps stronger observations But from such an undertaking if a condition had I may I believe add what men also say that if been added to it that no one nobleman or genit were possible the ermined robe of the most tleman who possessed any rank estate or conawful attribute of his majesty should have nexion, in the country should upon any acbeen wrapped round the acts of Mr. Marsden" count be consulted" (meaning and insinuating (meaning the said Alexander Marsden) "in thereby, and intending to cause it to be beorder to screen them from public disgrace we lieved that he the said John lord Redesdale might then look for another but not less fatal as such chancellor and privy counsellor as end to our liberties and to our constitution aforesaid had undertaken to direct the said than that which rebellion or invasion could Philip Earl of Hardwicke in all his councils produce And in truth they say that except as as such lieutenant and governor as aforesaid to momentary effects rebellion and invasion in the government of the said part of the might be viewed with indifference if it can be said United Kingdom with a condition that supposed that the stained hands of a petty no one nobleman or gentleman who possessed clerk had been washed in the very fountain of any rank estate, or connexion in the said part justice" And in other parts of which said of the said United Kingdom should be conlast-mentioned libel were and are contained sulted as to the government thereof) "His divers scandalous and malicious matters and pride would have spurned at the undertaking things of and concerning the said John Lord if he were told that to the Cambridgeshire earl" Redesdale and the conduct of the said John (meaning the said Philip, earl of Hardwicke) lord Redesdale as such chancellor and privy" and himself in the cares of government a counsellor as aforesaid by way of antithesis and contrast between the conduct which in and by the said last-mentioned libel it is insinuated that the said John Lord Redesdale as such chancellor and privy counsellor as aforesaid had adopted and pursued and the conduct which in and by the said last-mentioned libel it is asserted that the late right honourable Lloyd, Lord Kenyon now deceased would have adopted and pursued (that is to say) in one part thereof according to the tenor and effect following (that is to say): "Instead of calling him" (meaning the said late Lloyd Lord Kenyon)" to the high station which he so ably filled had it pleased his majesty to bless the western neighbours of Cambricus" (meaning the people of the said part of the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland)" who certainly owe the honest and warm-hearted principality" (meaning the principality of Wales)" no ill will with lord Kenyon" (meaning the said late Lloyd Lord Kenyon) for their chancellor I can very clerk in the secretary's office and a couple of lawyers without political habits political information or honourable connexion were to be joined as assessors and to be the only assessors And lord Kenyon's pride and inte grity would have both joined in preventing him from being himself the instrument of introducing such men into a cabinet of government" (meaning and insinuating thereby and intending to cause it to be believed that the said John Lord Redesdale as such chancellor and privy counsellor as aforesaid had been the instrument of introducing a clerk into the secretary's office and a couple of lawyers without political habits political information or honourable connexion into the cabinet of the government of the said part of the said United Kingdom) "If any one man could be found of whom a young but unhappy victim of the justly offended laws of his country had in the moment of his conviction and sentence uttered the following apostropheThat viper! whom my father nourished! He it was from whose lips I first imbibed |